This marks the first time that a foreign warship has been modernized in Canada since the Second World War.

“For the past four years, Lockheed Martin Canada’s Combat System Integration team has been preparing for this day by designing, integrating and testing the Combat System as well as the ship platform design changes for HMNZ Ships Te Kaha and Te Mana next year. Installation of an advanced combat system will ensure New Zealand has a credible maritime combat capability,” says Acting Vice President and General Manager of Lockheed Martin Canada Rotary Mission Systems (RMS), Gary Fudge.

During the handover ceremony, held in Esquimalt, BC, on 26 April 2018, Fudge expressed his feelings of satisfaction with this milestone after receiving HMNZS Te Kaha. “On behalf of Lockheed Martin Canada and the Seaspan team, I wish to express our gratitude for this opportunity to complete the final phase of modernizing Te Kaha, with Te Mana to follow. Our continued partnership with the Royal New Zealand Navy is something we are very proud of and you may all return to New Zealand secure in the knowledge that your ship is in good hands,” said Fudge.

Te Kaha arrived in Canada on March 6, where it proceeded to the Royal Canadian Navy’s Fleet Maintenance Facility (FMF) Cape Breton for de-storing of equipment and preservation of ship systems in preparation for the handover and start of the industrial refit.

As Prime Systems Integrator, Lockheed Martin Canada is responsible for designing and supplying the upgraded combat system for each ANZAC Class Frigate, including a new combat management system – based on Lockheed Martin Canada’s Combat Management System 330 – along with the supply and integration of various sensors, a missile system and a Combat Systems Trainer.

Lockheed Martin Canada is also responsible for the platform design and implementation and has subcontracted Seaspan Victoria Shipyards Co. Ltd in Victoria, BC, to install the new systems on the ship platforms.

Lockheed Martin Canada is the Combat Systems Integrator (CSI) for four major active programs across three countries, including New Zealand’s ANZAC Frigate Systems Upgrade project, the Chilean Navy’s Type 23 modernization, Canada’s Arctic Offshore Patrol Ship, and the lead program which saw the initial development of the CMS 330, the Halifax Class Modernization program.

HMNZS Te Mana is scheduled to arrive in 2019. Under Lockheed Martin Canada supervision and direction, Seaspan Shipyards will refit and install the new systems with an expected completion date of 2020 for the entire contract.

Lockheed Martin Canada, headquartered in Ottawa, is the Canadian-based arm of Lockheed Martin Corporation, a global security and aerospace company employing 100,000 people worldwide. Lockheed Martin Canada has been Canada's trusted defence partner for nearly 80 years specializing in the development, integration and sustainment of advanced technology systems, products and services. The company employs approximately 1,000 employees at major facilities in Ottawa, Montreal, Halifax, Calgary, and Victoria, working on a wide range of major programs spanning the aerospace, defence and commercial sectors.